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Thank you thank you thank you to everyone for helping this week. Just in terms of my project, we characterized floral neighborhoods for almost 70 plants in three days. In terms of pollinator observations, Tuesday’s escapades in the remnants were fruitful, but thursday’s weather would not hold out for us, so we had to postpone the second day of observations to next week, meaning we will have to randomly select a different set of 8 plants for all 10 remnants. I expect to see some more diversity in the neighborhoods next week because some species are just starting to flower like Coreopsis, Dalia, Apocynum, and Amorpha.
Here;s Amanda measuring to the nearest flowering Echinacea in Aanenson’s:
Here’s some pictures of our fun 4th of July and the amazing sustainable sandcastle.
Waniel, Per, and Hattie
Yesterday Daniel told us we could have a romantic walk in Staffanson Prairie if we came with him, but instead he made kate and I search his and Amy’s transects. What a trickster. Here he is cursing the heavens.
A flock of pelicans flew overhead at NWLF.
I have many more pictures http://picasaweb.google.com/mimijenkins/MinnesotaSummer09# in case you’re interested.
You know you could barely contain yourself with all the excitement and anticipation … here are the handles revealed!
Allegra- Legos
Amanda- Robo Cop
Amy- Joker
Caroline- Riddler
Daniel- Yea Mon
Greg- GT
Gretel- Queen Bee
Kate- Monster
Mimi- Penguin
Stuart- Drone
Today we got the microscope camera in the mail– here are the results!
This is the long-awaited photo of Echinacea angustifolia pollen. THIS IS IT, GUYS. Are you crying yet?
Love,
Daniel and Amanda
It might be fun to see Prairie Home Companion— Free!–in Avon Minnesota.
Hello everyone,
I’m glad you are all going to visit, neighbors. The echinacea is about to flower in full force, as are the leadplant (not today but soon), coreopsis in abundance, some goldenrod, purple prairie clover, dalea. Additionally galium, phlox, alumroot, ground cherries and lilies are blooming.
There will be many pollinator neighbors out next week trying to make a speedy delivery. If the weather is nice Mon AM, why don’t you join us, neighbor?
See you all Mon.!
A certain someone has thrown the digital gauntlet down, and being who I am, I cannot stand by and let that someone’s remarks pass. Generations of Raths back to the Dark Ages would roll over in their graves were their descendant to back down, spineless, before a challenge. I shall outmaneuver my opponent by focusing on quality, not quantity. My posts shall be masterpieces of prose and picture, and my adversary shall soon bow down, defeated.
Today was a rather productive day, as Amy and I flagged transects in Nessman, Stephen’s Approach, KJ’s, Northwest of Landfill, and East Riley. They all went fairly quickly one we got the procedure down: Determine where the plants correspond to the map, lay down the first metre tape, choose and flag random spots on the length of the tape, measure outwards from that tape to the edge of the remnant, and flag that point as well. After that, we put in shiners and tags so that we could be sure of finding them again. We also flagged plants for Jennifer’s and Diedre’s tissue samples.
Pictures below are of:
A beautiful sunset outside Kensington. I cannot get used to the fact that the sun sets around 10 out here!
A dragonfly eating another dragonfly at Glacier Lakes National Park. This one just kinda landed on Allegra’s head.
 Prairie Clover! There was a lot of this at Glacier Lakes, which made the prairie that much more beautiful.
Members of Team Echinacea: Mimi, Kate, Daniel and Allegra at Glacier Lakes. Such a nice day!
Even though we were not at work, we could not stop ourselves from searching for seedlings! Didn’t find any though.
There is a nest of baby birds in the Common Garden in row 41 that I found a week or two ago. There were only eggs at first, but they hatched and are now sprouting quills! Expect updates on these guys as well as regular pictures!
Note: As I was writing this, Dr. Ridley walked in carrying two Pappa John’s pizzas as a break from the healthy salads we have been eating all week! A move worthy of a saint!
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